Powder metallurgy technique was used to develop carbon fiber reinforced aluminium composites. By enhancing the wettability
between CF and Al matrix through surface coating with a thin layer of nano Cu by the electroless plating technique. Two series of samples
are prepared from 0,5,10,15 wt% CF/Al composites. For comparison, one of them was prepared from uncoated sample CF and the other
group from Cu-coated ones. Both groups are fabricated by a uniaxial hot-pressing technique under 700 MPa and 500℃. The effects of
reinforcement weight fraction and reinforcement coating on microstructure, density, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity and coefficient
of thermal expansion were studied. The results revealed that the density and CTE were decreased while both electrical and thermal
conductivities were improved by increasing CF percent. Harmful AL4C3 was absent in all produced composites and no intermediate
compounds were detected in coated composites. The Cu coating process was an effective way to improve the interfacial structure. The
values of electrical and thermal conductivities of coated composites were higher than those of the uncoated composites, and CTE was
reduced to 11.98 k^ (-1) at 15 wt.% Cu-coated CF/Al composite, which is suitable for semiconductor in electronic packaging applications. |
